How to Make an Ice Cream Soda!

An ice cream soda is the ultimate easy-breezy summertime classic: they are simple to make, requiring only four ingredients: syrup, milk, seltzer, and of course, ice cream, and you just mix them all together to create a refreshingly delicious drink. Here's a "how to" on making this time-honored favorite at home!

Step 1. Start with the syrup

syrup

Here at Skipper, we have chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and coffee syrups, but you can use any kind of syrup you prefer! Add about an ounce of syrup to the bottom of a tall glass or paper cup. The syrup essentially highlights the flavor of the ice cream, so you want to make sure the two flavors complement one another.

Step 2. Add a splash of milk and stir

milk

After the syrup is added, you’ll want to add just a splash of milk and stir it with a long spoon until the mixture becomes creamy. This will allow the syrup to flavor the entire drink, and not just stick to the bottom.

Step 3. Pour in the seltzer

seltzer3

When the syrup and milk are properly mixed, add in the seltzer. To avoid an overabundance of foam, try pouring the seltzer slowly with the glass or cup at an angle. This will eliminate the tricky illusion of a full glass when it’s actually just foam. If you end up with too much foam, feel free to scoop it out and continue pouring until the glass is about ¾ full to save room for the ice cream.

Step 4. And now add the ice cream!

IC

The final step is to scoop in your desired ice cream flavor. The classic flavors are chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, but any flavor works just as well. (Our personal favorite is coffee ice cream with chocolate syrup.) About two large scoops should be enough to fill your entire glass or cup.